Being Painfully Honest

In case you haven't noticed, I haven't been active on social networks as much as usual over the past month. This has been for a variety of reasons. The most prominent one being that I started college. If I'm being completely honest, the real reason I was MIA is because I hated college. It was such an adjustment! EVERYTHING was different. I am used to being on the same campus for pre-k 4 through 12th grade, to seeing (mostly) the same familiar faces every day, to knowing all of the faculty and stuff, knowing where to park my car, and most of all just being comfortable. College holds none of those qualities for me.

The University of Utah is a beautiful campus, but it is also huge. It is comprised of over 1,500 acres. It is, to say the least, intimidating. I am living at home which is 20 miles away from school, therefore I have two options for transportation. I can drive myself, purchase a parking pass and fight for parking. Or I can take public transportation for free using my student id card and make the trip last doubly as long as it would driving. Neither is preferable. I know because I tried both. I really dislike taking trax (Utah's public transportation) because it takes so long, is very crowded, and I have to walk a long ways from campus to the stations. This does't mean I like driving up there though. I never know when I am going to run into traffic, I have to pay for a parking pass, and parking is a joke. Recently I have been parking in paid lots because they are so much closer to my classes. It is about $8 a day but it's worth it to me.

As you can tell, just getting myself up to campus is a joke in itself. This is why my first few weeks were such a struggle for me. I was discouraged to even get in the car to drive for 35-40 minutes to go to two or three classes a day. My classes were pre-determined for me because I am enrolled in a special program through the school that is designed to get general education requirements fulfilled in one year instead of two. This is great in the long run, but no fun right now. I am enrolled in 15 credit hours. I take three classes on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays from 10:45-1:45. Then I take two classes on Tuesdays and Thursdays lasting from 12:25-3:20. This means I am only on campus for about three hours a day, but add at least 40 minutes to and from home and I am gone for about 5 hours a day. I struggled really hard to motivate myself to go to school every day. I wake up at 7 am everyday so by the time I should be leaving for school, I want to just stay home. If I would have scheduled my own courses, I would have done some online so I didn't have to go to campus every day, and the ones on campus I would have scheduled for earlier in the morning since I am awake anyways. But, oh well. Basically, I was stressing all the time. I honestly wanted to drop out. I know it sounds like I'm overreacting but I seriously hated it that much. Of course I would never drop out. It just seemed like too much to handle at first.

I am just really glad that I stuck it out. Finally, this past week I have really started to appreciate college life. College is great because it holds so much opportunity. I look around campus and see future doctors, lawyers, businessmen, artists, actors, dancers, social workers, athletes, teachers, engineers, computer programmers, politicians...you get the point. People shape their futures on college campuses. I am just starting to grow accustomed to this. I am happy to say that I am finally starting to figure out how to balance college and life. So, bear with me. I may not be as active on social networks as I sometimes am, but it is for good reason I can assure you. Now stay tuned for pictures and details of Henry's birthday party!

Stretch Marks

I recently posted this controversial picture of myself on Instagram accompanied by the following words.

If you think you are ready to have sex, ask yourself if you are ready to risk your body looking like this? EVERY time you have sex you are risking getting pregnant, no matter the precautions you are taking. No birth control is ever 100%. I used to love my body, then I got pregnant. This is a current picture of me. It has taken me three years to get used to the fact that this is my body now, my stretch marks will NEVER fully go away. I was not ready for my body to look like this by the time I was 18. I don't have an 18 year old's body. I was not ready to have sex. I should not have had sex. Please be careful. Think before you act.

My main reason for posting this was to show that teen pregnancy is NOT GLAMOROUS. It makes me sad when I see 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, even 18 year old girls writing on ask.fm that they want to get pregnant on purpose. I wanted to show them that this is not what they want. Pregnancy and raising a child is not fun, it is hard work.

Today Baby Center posted on article featuring my photo that I really love. Read their article here: http://blogs.babycenter.com/celebrities/teen-mom-izabella-photo-07292013-stretch-marks-safe-sex/

Happy Saturday!

Good evening. It's quiet over here at the Tovar house right now. It's 9:00 pm and everyone is asleep except me. I think we were tired because we went to bed so late last night and woke up so early this morning. My mom and I woke up at  8:30 this morning to go drive around and look at yard sales. There were a few, but it was starting to rain a bit so we decided to go get bagels for breakfast instead. I like being able to spend time with my mom like that. We just drove around and talked and laughed. We came up with a good idea too that I will be sharing with you very soon.

Then we came home to find everyone awake by 10:30 and decided to go hang out outside since it was such a nice day. It was cloudy but still warm so it felt nice to sit in the warm shade. Henry was jumping on his trampoline and the rest of us were eating our breakfast. Henry actually ate 1 1/2 eggs! I know this doesn't sound like much but I usually have so much trouble trying to get him to eat eggs. I usually have to put them with cheese in a tortilla like a breakfast burrito for him to touch them but today he did! He is seriously the pickiest eater I know. I am going to write on article about that too.

After we hung outside for a few hours, we got ready and went to my twin cousins birthday party. It was so fun! They had a HUGE bouncy house set up that Henry spent basically all of his time in. They also had two pinatas and Henry swung at one for the first time in his life. He is such a big boy.

Well then Henry fell asleep on the way hom from the party which was like 5:40. Sitting in the car on the way home we all realized how exhausted we were too. So, we collectively decided to take a nap when we got home. We did, and I just woke up. It was nice and refreshing. You see, we don't mind if we are all now up into the wee hours of the night because it's the weekend and it's Summer. Summer is almost over and we want to make the best of the rest of the time we have left.

What did you do today?

Henry's Clothes

I have to share this with you because I am so in love. I ordered this sweatshirt for Henry from http://www.sudo.com.au/ Sudo is an Australian based children's clothing line. All of their stuff is adorable whether it's for girls or boys. This is important to me because I hate stores that only carry a majority of girl's clothing, considering I have a boy. This is most stores here in the United States, therefore I feel like I sometimes have to settle when buying clothes for Henry. I about died when I found this site. I shopped when they were having a sale, because some of their items can be a bit pricey but I think they are so worth it. I only bought one item this time because I don't have a ton of money, so I have to buy a few items here and there. I will definitely be buying more of their clothes in the near future though. I am so pleased with my first purchase. As you know, Henry loves wild cats, especially tigers. When I showed him this sweatshirt yesterday he was in awe, all he could say was "woah." It was the cutest thing ever. Then once I put it on him, he never wanted to take it off! You can't tell from the picture but the front of the hoodie, the tiger, is actually a different material than the rest of it. It is like silk, so soft and pretty. It also means that the design is not "painted" on like some companies do, therefore it will not wear off over time or once it is washed. Okay, enough talk for now, check out the pictures for yourself.

Henry is showing off his tiger claws and his fierce growl in these bottom two pictures. (:

Good Morning!

Good Morning. It is 7:30 am over here in my neck of the woods. We just got back from our daily hike across the mountain. It's such a beautiful view I just had to share it with you. This is the mountain we live on. Every morning my mom, my brother, and I take a little hike on the trail that goes all the way across the mountain. We walk down to the edge of the mountain which is the hang-gliding park, and back across to our house. What are some of your daily routines and what time is it where you live right now?

Welcome!

Jairo, Henry and I today

Hello. This is new territory for me. Usually I am blogging about other people, not myself. So you will have to bear with me for the first few weeks until I get the hang of this! I suppose it is appropriate to start this blog off with an update.

I'll start with Henry since he is my favorite person in the world. He is currently two years old. He will be three in less than two months which is a scary thought! He is about 38 inches tall and skinny like his father. He loves to be the center of attention. He usually achieves this by talking. We all love to hear his little voice and the funny things he says. Some of my favorite things he says right now are: "you make me sad," "you lost me," "I can't wear that, I wore it last night," "I want (fill in blank) also," "I can't, I'm busy," "shh I'm on the phone, no talking," "I want (fill in blank) and I want it now," "but I need to," "I can't know how," "mommy/daddy/mama/papa/tiko said no," "sorry, I no mean to," and "I love you so much." Henry loves to pretend that he is a wild cat. The cat varies from day to day. Today he is a white tiger, yesterday he was a leopard, and sometimes he's even a lion. He loves to growl and curl up his fingers to show his "claws." He has got the growling down pretty well. The other day he taught my mom how to growl by telling her she had to be loud and open her mouth really big. Lately he is really into robots and dinosaurs. His favorite movies this week have been: Dinosaur, The Land Before Time, Robots, and Wreck-It-Ralph. Henry loves to play with his friends every day. We recently got a little trampoline for our backyard and it's his favorite thing ever. He loves jumping around and being wild.

Okay next will be Jairo. He is 20 years old. He is still working at Walgreens. He has worked there since January of 2011. He is currently training to become a pharmacy technician. He will be starting school this fall. He is enrolled in Salt Lake Community College and is in a program that will allow him to finish his general education courses in one year instead of two. He will still be working full time because his classes will be for three hours on Friday nights and six hours on Saturday mornings. He is currently interested in going to school to become a pharmacist. I am so proud of him. If someone would have told me three years ago that Jairo would end up like this, I would not have believed them. He has come so far in life and I am so proud of him.

Jairo and I after our date night last Friday

My very long hair

So I guess that leaves me. I graduated high school on May 25, 2013. It was one of the biggest accomplishments of my life. I felt honored to have my 2 1/2 year old by my side. I owe it all to my school and my parents. Both were so supportive and truly guided my way towards success. There were many times that I wanted to quit. It would have been so much easier to just get my GED. But I am so glad I stuck with it. My graduation experience was so rewarding. I will be attending the University of Utah in the fall. I start college classes on August 26. So I have almost exactly one month left of Summer! I am really nervous to start college. It is going to be such a different experience from high school. Especially my high school. All of our classes were held in four hallways, upstairs and downstairs. My graduating class consisted of less than 200 people. I am going to miss my old school. I was on the same campus from 4-year-old preschool up until 12th grade. It is going to be strange going somewhere different for school. That being said, I am actually very excited too. I think I will do well in college. I have always been really independent throughout high school and I hear that every one is really on their own in college, that there aren't "cliques." I am excited for the change of scenery. The University of Utah is a beautiful campus. I can't wait to spend my days there. I have not committed to a major yet, but I am leaning towards psychology. My ultimate goal is to get accepted to medical school. Right now I am interested in anesthesiology, but that is subject to change.

My ring

That's about it for us right now. If you have any questions leave me a comment. I also have an ask account. My name on there is just IzabellaTovar. Just so you know, all of the pictures on here were taken in the last week!